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rhonabeeapa · 2 months

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A Symphony of Moments:Memoir of a dreamer

As I sit down to pen this letter, memories of my past come flooding back. My journey began in the sun-kissed days of my childhood, where laughter echoed through the hallways of our home. I were like peas in a pod, inseparable and full of wonder.

I remembered when I was on my 6th birthday it is a very special day for me,cause I feel like a princess wearing pink dress.My parents gave me a such beautiful birthday party,my mom gave me a big teddy bear and guess what I still have it now.Bringing those memories back when Gaisano Mactan have a playground and mini rides for kids,my mom always take me there and bought me popcorn’s to eat while I’m playing.

I remember those lazy summer afternoons when I chased butterflies in the backyard? My little hands reached out, hoping to catch a glimpse of their delicate wings. Built forts from cardboard boxes, imagining grand castles where dragons roamed and secret treasures awaited discovery. Scraped knees were badges of honor, proof of my daring escapades.

As I grew older, school became my second home. We sat side by side, scribbling notes, sharing secrets, and dreaming of distant lands. Our backpacks sagged under the weight of textbooks, but our hearts soared with curiosity.And giggled during history lessons. Our friendship was a compass guiding us through the corridors of adolescence.

In my Elementary days, I participated contest like UNO, prince and princess, but I usually come home being a loser. Since then I learn to accept being loss,it’s just part of our life there is always failure and success,may all your failures gives you a lesson and brings you to success.

Ah, the teenage years—a rollercoaster of emotions! Crushes bloomed like wildflowers, and our hearts danced to the rhythm of awkward glances. Late-night phone calls, clandestine rendezvous, and whispered confessions—our bond deepened as we stumbled through the maze of first love. We weathered storms of self-doubt, celebrated victories, and held each other close when life felt uncertain.

During my Junior High School in my 8th grade I experienced dengue.They admitted mi at the UC-Med hospital,that time I’m very angry to nurse they injected me many times to put the dextrose.After that I stayed at the hospital I think 2 or 3 weeks maybe, and that happened on december and that was close for the celebration of our Christmas Party.I feel down and losing hope cause my body didn’t function well.I was afraid maybe I cannot join the party but miracle happen few days before the party I just got out of the hospital.And I enjoy joining the party.

High school graduation arrived, and with it, a fork in the road. Our paths diverged, leading us to different cities, universities, and dreams. The ache of separation was real, but our promise to stay connected remained unbroken. Letters flew across miles, bridging the gap between our worlds. We celebrated victories—the first job, the first apartment—and commiserated over heartaches and missed opportunities.

And now, here we are—grown, weathered, and wiser. Life has sculpted us, chiseling away rough edges, leaving behind a mosaic of memories. We've toasted to promotions, danced at weddings, and mourned losses. Our late-night conversations have evolved from crushes to mortgages, from dreams to responsibilities. Yet, the essence of our friendship remains unchanged—a lifeline that transcends time and distance.

As I grew, my dreams tangled like wild vines. I wandered through enchanted forests, where trees whispered forgotten names. They told me stories of love and loss, of forgotten cities buried beneath oceans, and of doorways to other worlds.

Dreams are fragile things. Sometimes they fray at the edges, unraveling into nightmares.

As I write this, I imagine you reading these words, perhaps with a cup of tea. Life has woven intricate patterns, and become protagonists in our own stories.

Life is a journey filled with twists, turns, and unexpected moments. It’s not merely about the number of years we accumulate, but the quality of those years. A life well-lived is one where we embrace love, kindness, and purpose. So let us strive for goodness, cherish each day, and create a legacy that extends beyond mere existence.

Remember, life isn’t just about surviving; it’s about thriving, connecting, and leaving a positive impact on the world.

“A long life may not be good enough,but a good life is long enough.”

-Benjamin Franklin

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fxf-travel · 6 years

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7 DAY PHILIPPINES ITINERARY {CEBU, SIQUIJOR, CORON}

“It’s more fun in the Philippines”, responded a local girl when I tried to make conversation, before quickly realizing this ad phrase was the only English she knew. No doubt if you have looked into a trip to PH, you have encountered this phrase more than once. More than just fun, Philippines feels like a paradise untainted by the tourism that has affected neighboring being destinations. With so many islands to explore, it certainly deserves more than one trip, and certainly more than one week. However, life obligations and limited vacation time forced me to prioritize and maximize my week in the Philippines, eventually deciding on the islands of Cebu, Siquijor, and Coron.

CEBU

Since our main goal was to get to Coron, Cebu started as simple the city of our layover. However, the more I looked into it, the more I realized it would be a waste not to allocate a little more time here. The main attractions of Cebu are out of the city, although there are day tours that leave from the city if you want to make your home base somewhere where you can get everywhere from, and if you don't mind long hours on a bus.

Oslob and Moalboal are the main destinations from Cebu City. Oslob is the spot for swimming with the whale sharks, while Moalboal is where you find the teal blue Kawasan falls. There are tours that leave from Cebu City and go to both destinations in one day, but these tours leave around 4 a.m in order to reach Oslob in the morning during the whale sharks’ feeding time.

We instead opted to sleep in Oslob the night before to reach the whale sharks before the busses of tourists. To get there, we took a 300 peso taxi from Cebu Mactan airport to Oslob South City Bus Terminal. Busses leave frequently, and reach Oslob in about 3.5 hours.

We stayed at an Airbnb on the water right next to the whale shark briefing center about 5-10 min. past of Oslob proper. The town was very quiet, but had a great local restaurant, La Terasse, and 24 hour market. ——.

Sadly I can’t speak to Moalboal’s beauty since to maximize our time, we instead decided to visit Siquijor since it has also has waterfalls and for the sake of seeing another island. I think this was a great decision, since Siquijor was my personal favorite of the trip (and also came highly recommended by the French owner of La Terrasse).

SIQUIJOR

To get to Siquijor you can take the ferry directly from Cebu City, which takes about 4 hours. Instead of returning to Cebu City, I went straight from Oslob. To do this, either take a tricycle scooter (relatively expensive) or the local bus 15 minutes South to the port of —-. From here you can take choose between a boat that stops in Demenguente, where you will have to make a quick ferry transfer, then continue onto Larena in Siquijor, or take a slow boat directly to Larena. The slow boat took about 2 hours, but had a live NBA game playing to keep the country’s many basketball enthusiasts entertained. Keep in mind that the slow boat directly to Larena leaves from a different dock a 10-15 min. walk past the first dock. ((also try to go to the bathroom before the boat, you will not be impressed with the one on board))

Siquijor is more than worth the boat ride it takes to reach. Like the French restaurant owner in Oslob told us, it’s an island that’s incredibly relaxing in the fact that it’s not completely mainstream. This is also reflected by the few cars on the island, as your mode of transport will be renting a scooter or hiring a tricycle. I strongly recommend the scooter, as it is much cheaper (350 pesos a day from the tourism center at the Larena port) and gives you much more freedom. I hate driving scooters after getting in a crash in Bali, but the driving here was easy with the smooth road and almost nonexistent traffic.

I had no qualms about trading Moalboal for Siquijor because they main attraction in Moalboal is a waterfall, which Siquijor has as well. In fact, I would argue that Siquijor’s waterfall is better because there’s multiple rope swings without the busses of tourists. The main waterfall, —-, does certainly attract many Siquijor visitos, but you can also try —- or ——. We accidentally went to —- thinking it was the main one, and although it was much smaller we were the only ones. All these waterfalls are within a 10 min scooter ride of each other, so you could easily visit them all.

The other thing I loved about Siquijor was Salagdoong Beach. You drive through a picturesque man made forest to reach this beach, with a tree cave leading to a gate where you pay an entrance fee (worth it). I loved this beach because of the little island that you walk to over a short bridge, which you can slide or jump off of into crystal clear water. The slide was the easiest of the options, though I finally worked up the courage to jump off the —- ledge. The other —- ft. ledge i’ll have to save for next time. After jumping in I swam out to the floating dock and hung out for a bit. The beach has a restaurant, sun protected picnic tables, and even a resort you can stay at if you can get enough of the water activities (Salagdoong Beach Resort).

Siquijor was my favorite part of the week, in part due to the fun hotel we stayed at. Kalachuchi Resort ——.

I will definitely be following up with a second trip to Siquijor to do the things we ran out of time for: The Enchanted Balete Tree and San Juan. I was also sad we didn’t have time to explore Bohol, even though the boat back to Cebu City stopped in Tagbilaran and we could have gotten off if we didn’t have an early flight the next morning. I recommend at least a full day in Siquijor, and at least a full day in Bohol to see the Tarsier sanctuary, Chocolate Hills, and beautiful sandbar.    CORON

The remainder of the trip was spent on the beautiful island of Coron in Palawan, north of El Nido. We flew from Cebu on a quick flight a little over an hour, but you can take long boats from El Nido or Manila (I believe this option is 28 hours). The tiny airport is in Busuanga, and requires you to find a ride for the hour drive into Coron Town. You can arrange this in advance, but we were easily able to land and join a van, since they all go to the same place.

When planning a trip to Coron Island it’s important to understand the differences in accommodation options, since this can influence your experience here. You can opt for Coron Town, which is busy, but provides easy access to transportation and island tours. The Funny Lion is a good value right outside town, with jungle views and a jacuzzi. The other thing you could do is opt for a secluded waterfront experience, mostly in Busuanga Bay. The best value for this is Al Faro, which you can only reach by boat. Because of this, you are locked into the higher restaurant prices relative to Coron Town, but in my opinion is completely worth it because the food and views are amazing (Al Faro was booked so we were unable to stay here, but we visited two nights for dinner and this is where I would chose to come back to, even if only to use their stunning infinity pool!). For those with a higher budget, The Busuanga Bay Lodge (BBL) is a high end resort across the bay from Al Faro. BBL is connected to the main road, but the others all require boats to access.

In terms of activities, in Coron you will be mostly island hopping and scuba diving. This was my first time scuba diving, and I found at turtle at the picturesque CYC island and explored a Japanese shipwreck. Not a bad deal for 80 bucks. Those with diving certification will be able to explore the shipwrecks even deeper.

In terms of island hopping, the first priority is to explore Coron Island, which is visible from Coron Town. Here you will find teal water, steep rock walls, and the photos you saw of this place on Google, including Kayangan Lake, Twin Lagoon, and Barracuda Lake. After exploring Coron island your boat may take you to other spots such as Pass Island, which is a beautiful white sand beach with not much except a basketball court, and a beautiful vantage spot of the sunset (when most of the tour boats have already left). Try to book a tour on a boat that provides lunch when stopping at Atwayan Beach on Coron Island; a picnic on a white sand beach is the perfect break from a full day of swimming.

Sadly our boat did not cook us food (I did try to steal leftovers from the other tours…) so we went back to Coron Town for lunch. Following the recommendation of Lonely Planet, we stopped at Sea Dive resort for lunch and had amazing Chicken Adobo and Curry right on the water for a reasonable price. Being the coffee addict that I am, I had to stop for coffee in town before continuing the activities. I was excited to find two western coffee shops, Epic Coffee and Buzz cafe (right behind one another) that had extensive menus.

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realestate-philippines-blog · 7 years

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http://www.metrocebu.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Citadines-Cebu.jpg

THE COMPLETION of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA)’s expansion by 2018 is seen to further boost tourist arrivals in Cebu, effectively ramping up the need for more hotel and resort-oriented projects in the region.

Consultancy firm Colliers International said in a statement on Tuesday that the P17.5-billion public-private partnership (PPP) should entice more airlines to mount direct flights to Cebu, which has consistently been ranked as one of the most visited destinations in the country.

“Cebu’s rising attractiveness as a tourist spot and growing competitiveness as an investment destination should support a 15% to 20% growth in tourist arrival’s over the next 12 months,” Gerard Padriaga, general manager of Colliers’ Cebu office, was quoted as saying in the statement.

MCIA’s new terminal will have a total capacity of 12.5 million tourists per annum, almost thrice the capacity of the airport’s old facility.

In January to November 2016, Cebu recorded a total of 3.46 million domestic and foreign tourists, rising 12% year-on-year. The consultancy noted that Cebu outranked other key destinations such as Camarines Sur, Davao, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, and Palawan in terms of tourist arrivals.

“Cebu serves as the jump-off point to other Visayas and Mindanao destinations, hence the need to expand its airport’s capacity,” according to Colliers.

As of March 2017, the PPP Center reported that the project is 51% completed. The project’s private developer GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. meanwhile said that it is on track to reach the target completion date of June 2018.

Other than MCIA, Colliers highlighted the Cebu-Cordova bridge and proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) prioritized under the Duterte administration as other projects that could ease travel within the city.

“These major road transport projects should complement the rehabilitation and upgrading of national and local roads being undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways,” the firm stated.

The 8.25-kilometer Cebu-Cordova bridge is a project of Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. which was launched last month. The P10.6-billion BRT in Cebu meanwhile is set to be operational by 2018.

Cebu’s tourism industry could also benefit from the lowering of airfares as airlines compete for bigger market share and the approval of the ASEAN Multilateral Agreement in Air Services. This deal would allow Philippine carriers to fly an unlimited number of times to capital cities of ASEAN-member nations.

The country’s recent signing of an agreement with the Chinese government on tourism cooperation is another factor, with the possible increase in capacity entitlements in air services meant to encourage airlines to open new flights between Philippine and Chinese cities.

In January alone, Chinese tourists accounted for 85,948 arrivals, soaring by 76.46% from 2016’s figures during the same period.

The city’s emergence as a destination for meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions is further expected to ramp up arrivals in Cebu. For instance, Cebu paid host to a number of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation ministerial meetings as well as the preliminary events for the 2016 Miss Universe pageant.

“With growing interests in Cebu as a MICE destination in the region, we encourage developers to apportion a bigger space for conference rooms and other similar facilities,” Mr. Padriaga said.

Cebu-based Gaisano Capital Group has already started picking up on this area, as it launched a 1500-sear Mactan Island Convention Center in 2016.

Various real estate developers are also entering the Cebu market in support of the demand in accommodation facilities. Singapore-based serviced residences operator The Ascott Ltd. is looking to open Citadines Cebu City in 2019 and Somerset Gorordo in 2021; Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corp. targets to open the 214-room Seda Hotel by 2019; and Double Dragon Properties Corp. unveiled plans of building Jinjiang hotels. Colliers also listed Rockwell Land’s Aruga resort, Duros Land’s 23 Minore Park Hotel, Grand Land and Dusit International’s Dusit Princess Hotel, and Megaworld’s hotels under the Belmont brand as notable projects in the city.

The increase in tourist arrivals has effectively hiked Cebu’s overall occupancy rate to 68% from 65% in 2015.

“Robust occupancy rates of Deluxe and First Class hotels indicate the continued influx of high-spending tourists….This should sustain hotel occupancy of between 65% and 70% across Metro Cebu in 2017,” the consultancy said.

On long-term prospects of growth, Colliers said tourism will be hinged on the swift resolution of safety issues by the government.

Business World Online | April 26, 2017

23 Minore Park, Aruga Cebu, Citadines Cebu, Dusit Cebu, Somerset Gorordo http://wp.me/p7tquq-vN

#23 Minore Park #Aruga Cebu #Citadines Cebu #Dusit Cebu #Somerset Gorordo

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